The belt for lifting are a personal preference, and the purpose of this article is not to talk about the pros and cons of various types of belt. Instead, we will spend our time looking at how to make the best use of this simple but very effective training aid.

I would like to trust that you all believe in wearing a belt, but in reality, I know that some of you may need a little more convincing. Let’s try this line of reasoning. To get better (at anything – your sport, your life, your lifting) you need to get stronger.

To get stronger you need to lift heavier. To lift heavier you need to wear a belt. Therefore, wearing a belt allows you to lift heavier, which builds overall strength, which makes you suck less. Pretty simple when you think of it like that, right?

And for those of you thinking that your core won’t get stronger by wearing a belt, we’re going to address the issues of the core and intra-abdominal pressure below.

Building up overall strength in this manner through the use of a belt means that even when you take the belt off, you can lift heavier than if you hadn’t worn the belt in the first place. This all leads to lifting more weight more frequently. Plugging this right back into the logic above means that you continue to build strength to your ultimate advantage.

If that doesn’t convince you, this is probably not the right article for you. However, If you’re now wanting to know how to get the most out of your belt (read: how to get stronger, quicker), then read on.

RELATED: Best Weightlifting Belts

1. How to use your lifting belt effectively

Let’s clear up a misconception here. A belt’s primary function is not one of supporting your back per se, as commonly believed. Instead, it aids you to increase intra-abdominal pressure, which in turn acts as a brace to support and strengthen your spine.

To use your belt effectively, you need to use the Valsalva maneuver. This involves taking a large breath of air into your belly (not your chest), and trying to exhale forcefully with a closed throat. This will push your belly out into the belt, which will help increase the pressure build-up around your midsection.

2. When to wear a weight lifting belt

When the going gets tough, the tough wear a belt. I’m not suggesting you wear a belt for all your warm-ups sets.

But when it starts to get hairy, add the belt. In fact, I would advocate wearing the belt prior to the sets that matter. Breathing hard against the belt is a skill that needs to be practiced, especially when performing continuous repetitions.

3. How tight should a lifting belt be tightened

As we have discussed, a good lifting belt is designed to increase intra-abdominal pressure and stabilize your whole midsection.

To create this pressure you need to contract your abs against the belt. To make this possible, wear your belt one hole looser than as-tight-as-it-can-go. A good rule of thumb is that you should be able to get your hand between your belly and the belt.

4. How do you position a lifting belt on your body

The basic answer to this is, where it does not impede your lift. The bottom of the belt should not get wedged into your hips when they are flexed.

Neither should the top of the belt push against your ribs. Wear it in a position that is comfortable, whilst allowing you to create the necessary pressure against it. You may find this position is slightly higher when pulling from the floor.

5. When is the best time to use a lifting belt

In terms of movements, we are talking about the big compound lifts (squats, deadlifts, and presses), and also the Olympic lifts along with strongman exercises such as the yoke and farmer’s walks.

All these movements are fundamental to building strength. Any movements that can be classified as such, as we have seen, are best performed with a belt for maximum weight and maximum benefit.

Whatever your ultimate goals, it is worth knowing and understanding how to make the best use of this highly effective tool to aid you on your journey. Buckle up!

The post 5 Mistakes You Might Be Making With Your Weightlifting Belt appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Many buzzwords seem to fly around the fitness industry. Words like “functional,” “primal,” and “developmental” hover above us, just slightly out of focus to make for clear definition, like dark vultures waiting to swoop on unsuspecting little athletes who dare to make a run for freedom or stand up to these notions in an open environment.

These words of prey are given all manner of mysterious determinations. But the process of assigning definition to these words seems as flighty as the words themselves. No one really knows why these words are lurking around us, and it seems almost dangerous to guess.

Look up to the skies, and you will see many top coaches taking swipes at each other’s definitions of these words. This becomes more than a little meaningless for the average athlete on the ground.

The Importance of Purpose

This is ironic, as function IS meaning. Or in other words, purpose. I recently picked up a copy of Michael Boyle’s latest book, New Functional Training for Sports. I like the book, and I knew I was going to do so from the first few words of the first chapter.

Boyle opens with the following definition:

“Function is, essentially purpose. When we use the word function we are saying that something has a purpose. So when we apply that term to training for sports we are talking about purposeful training for sports.”

He goes on to say:

“Since the concept of functional training was first applied to sports it has been misunderstood and mislabelled by many athletes and coaches. Terms such as sports specific, which implies that certain movements and movement patterns are specific to individual sports, have been used to describe some functional training concepts. But sport-specific training takes place with the athlete on the mat, field, or court, whereas in strength and conditioning we work to get the athlete stronger and to improve specific conditioning.”¹

Don’t just think this has to apply to sports, either. For “sports” insert “life.” It still works the same. This resonates with me at the most fundamental level. And it should, because purpose is at the base of everything we do. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines function as “the action for which a person or thing is specially fitted or used or for which a thing exists”, as well as “any of a group of related actions contributing to a larger action”.

This is a big clue to understanding the deeper definition of functional training. There is nothing about compound exercises, primal patterns, brain-based training, or any other iteration of functional training in the dictionary. That’s because these things don’t form the definition of function training. Those are simply expressions of functional training, they are things you do. They are processes. They are much further up the food chain than purpose.

But that’s still not the whole picture. There’s something that sits in between purpose and process and that is principles.

Principles are the commonalities that underlie purposeful training, like:

• Mobility and stability
• Tension and relaxation
• And so on.

These are the principles on which meaningful functional processes lie. They are the basic principles of movement that sit on top of any meaningful training purpose and support any viable training processes.

At Strength Education, we put all these words into a pyramid. At the base of the pyramid is a wide purpose block, on top sits a principles block, then a processes block. And at the top is the culmination of correctly layering all of these things on top of one another, in the right order. Balanced at the top sits performance.

This isn’t about putting some random words into a fancy shape. It’s a system to define our training through purpose, and to understand the common training principles you must master to be able to effectively express your purpose through functional processes, like compound movements such as the squat, press, and deadlift. Because these are only functional processes if they sit on sound principles and have a meaningful purpose. Then add specific performance variables.

This purpose-principles-processes-performance pyramid is so important that it forms the centerpiece of our Five Pyramids of Performance. Everything else we need to know and learn about training stems from here.

So next time your head is spinning with meaningless (literally – purposeless) Internet conversations about functional training and what constitutes function, sit back and work your way up this pyramid. Stack the blocks up in your head. If the blocks are stacked in the wrong order, or any of them are missing, you know it makes no sense.

Functional training is purposeful training, grounded in universal principles. And at a base level, it’s as simple as that.

References:

1. Boyle, Michael New Functional Training for Sports. (Human Kinetics, 2016)

Headline photo credit: CrossFit Empirical

The post What Is Functional Training? appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

This is one of my favorite strength training mottos (along with “perfect practice makes perfect” and “fast sh*t is still sh*t”). I’m not here to have a debate about whether front squats are better than back squats. You just need to accept that they are. Just joking. Kind of.

From a coaching perspective, front squats are easier to teach, almost self-correcting, and promote better depth. 

From an injury prevention perspective, they incur less shear forces and compressive forces. They are also kinder on the shoulders (in most cases.)

From an athletic perspective, front squats facilitate awesome core strength and have incredible carry over into other strength movements – not just strength-wise, but in terms of position and mechanics too.

25 Ways to Increase Your Front Squat

Okay, I’ll admit it, the front squat is outright my favorite movement. Here are 25 ways to increase your front squat, with not a squat program in sight:

1. More front squats – The best way to get better at all aspects of front squats is to do more front squats.
2. Squat at the start – Why always tag your squats (and your core work, for that matter) onto the end of the session? If you want to improve or increase a skill or movement, then prioritize it. Squat first and frequently for a sustained period.
3. Mobility – You know you need to do it, even more so if you’re squatting multiple times a week. So do it. Perform mobility work on the ankles, hips, and thoracic spine, along with some form of rack position work at the least.
4. Squat therapy – Like most therapy, this is not fun, but it is worryingly effective. Treat yourself to a therapy session before taking the iron downtown.
5. Squat deeper – For maximum carryover, muscle recruitment, glute activation, all round bad-assery, and bad-ass ass bad-assery, squat deeper.
6. Squat straight down – Sending the hips back to begin a front squat will send the torso forward, and the bar crashing down. Squat straight down so your pelvis sits in between your legs. Think of your legs like two trees with your pelvis as the hammock.
7. Elbows up – Up, up, and up. Did I mention up? Lead with the elbows on the way up. Imagine there are chains attached to the end of your elbows. As you complete the squat the lifting gods are pulling you back up.
8. Release your grip – I see so many people try to front squat while still gripping onto the bar for dear life. This is vaguely acceptable if you have the flexibility to do so, but most people aren’t in this position (no pun intended). If your mechanics are correct, you shouldn’t have to grip to hold onto the bar. In fact you shouldn’t need to have to hold on to the bar at all.
9. Frankenstein squats – Walk up to the bar on the rack and set in on your shoulders with your hands straight out in front of you like Frankenstein’s monster. Now squat. Also called zombie squats. (I’m sorry, I had to get zombies in there somewhere.) This is a great drill for learning bar position and what your body needs to do to keep the bar in place.
10. Rack the bar closer – Yes, I know it’s uncomfortable. Jam that bar into you closer. Okay, you can move it out a bit. There you go. It sits right there, behind the front delts.
11. Chest into the bar – Preempt the fact that you are going to lean forward when it gets heavy, and drive your chest up into the bar from the bottom before you start to lean forward. This will assist you in maintaining an upright torso and keep the work where it should be – through the legs and hips.
12. Hips under the bar – Get your hips under the bar as soon as possible on the way up, and drive straight up. You will become more upright, and feel the difference in power straight away when you get this right.
13. Knees out – I’m aware of the debates circulating the Internet regarding knees out versus knees in versus knees up. I understand the implications of each of them, and believe they all have their place in terms of when and how to coach them. But for now, push your knees out, please.
14. Core strength– There are some who advocate that squats and deadlifts are all you need for core strength. I disagree. There comes a point where you need to increase your core strength, separately, in order to squat better and in order to get stronger. It’s a similar concept to playing sport to get fit, or getting fit to play sport.
15. Glute activation – Incorporate some basic glute activation drills before you squat. Then squat deep enough to make sure you use your glutes effectively.
16. Breathing – I’m shocked at how little emphasis is placed on this. If I had my way, lifters wouldn’t even touch a bar until learning how to breathe properly through a series of progressive breathing drills. (Let me know in the comments if you want to see an article on these.)
17. Readiness – You need to take that bar off the rack ready to squat. Jam yourself in between the bar and the floor. It should feel like a standing-up plank. Attempting to find optimum position once loaded is far less effective than setting it beforehand.
18. Static holds – Try 3 sets of 30 seconds in the rack position with around 110% of your max. Put simply, this will get your body used to handing heavier weights. Plus, it is one hell of a core workout.
19. 1 ¼ reps – This is a squat variation with multiple benefits, including strength, timing, and stabilization. Squat to rock bottom, and then come back up to just above parallel. Return to the bottom of the squat and drive up to the top. Warning: these are harder than you think.
20. Pause squats – Add a pause at the bottom of your squat to improve starting strength. Next time you’re pinned under a heavy clean, you’ll thank me.
21. Confidence – If you think you’re going to get stuck in the hole, guess what? You’re going to get stuck in the hole.
22. Shoes on – If you’ve never squatted in a pair of weightlifting shoes before, get yourself a pair. You will be able to front squat better.
23. Shoes off – If you’ve been squatting in weightlifting shoes for a long time, make sure you’re not reliant on them. What is your front squat like without them? Take your shoes off and you will quickly learn what is holding you back.
24. Tempo – Slow on the way down, fast on the way up. Master this.
25. Drive up fast and hard – If you have something light on the bar, imagine that it’s heavy. If you have something heavy on the bar, imagine that it’s light. It doesn’t get simpler than that.

Summary

The front squat is an incredible tool for weightlifters, CrossFitters, and strongmen alike. I’ve found that when I treat front squats with reverence, they pay me back in kind, and everything from my deadlift to my pull up numbers go up.

Treat the front squat with the respect it deserves and it will be your dependable friend for life. When in doubt – front squat.

The post 25 Tips for Better Front Squats appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Okay, that’s not true, but imagine if it was. It would be ludicrous, right? Not least because social media is full of advice that contradicts and conflicts with itself. When it comes to training and being a champion, I’ll often see things like “To be a champion, you need to train like one.” But then I’ll also read advice like “Stop thinking you’re elite. Stick to the fundamentals”

Neither of these are wrong. They are, as is standard with internet memes and supposedly-inspirational quotes, a single-sentence oversimplification of the issues. The reality is that both are true and valuable pieces of advice, but perhaps not in the way you’d think.

You Already Have the Tools

Here’s the real deal. If you are on a well-considered strength program by a coach who has experience across a range of level of athletes, you already train like a champion. The likelihood is that your plan is very similar to that of someone who is at a much higher level. That’s not because your coach is lazy. That’s because we are all humans.

Programming that works, across any and every level, is built on solid fundamental, universal principles of how humans move, and how humans learn. So a coach who is worth his or her salt will be programming for all athletes of all abilities based on these same principles, and then based on the coach’s own universal principles and beliefs too. It’s only the expressions of these principles that change for each type of athlete.

So, in short, you already have access to the same rep schemes, the same movements, the same principles of progression, and the same planning as those you admire. The programming is there in front of you, and it’s not a watered down version either. Your workouts are tapered to a level that is just a step above your own. Because that’s how this stuff works. Layer upon layer. You don’t build the foundation of a house then move to the blueprint for the roof. You build the house, one layer of bricks at a time.

Or take a car analogy. Accelerating from 0-60 is actually 0, 1, 2, 3, to 58, 59, 60. Your strength training works the same way. You pick up speed, and change up a gear when you need to. But the mechanics of an engine and transmission still stay the same. Some cars will pick up speed quicker because of the way they are built, but all cars can get from 0-60 by constantly adding speed. You are that car, your engine is your body’s systems, your genetics is the way the engine is built, your programming is the transmission, your performance is your speed.

Build Your Foundation

What this means for you is that the fact you are not a champion is not because your program is inferior, or even significantly different to the programs the champions are using. It is the same, and what’s more it is at the right level for you to progress to the next layer. Build your strength incrementally, and when the time comes, take it up a gear – but remember, that shift is still just a shift of degree, not an overhaul of the whole transmission. Do what champions do – and do the fundamentals well. Perform the work, and trust in the program.

You don’t instantly go from an empty cup of filter coffee to a full cup. Your coffee percolates drip by drip, and that’s just how you accumulate strength. And my coffee has been percolating for a while now. Time to sip at it and do some programming for humans.

The post Programming for Humans appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

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These days, there are fitness competitions every weekend of the year, and each of them need judges. At the local throwdown level, everything is somewhat relaxed. I used to be super-strict and uptight as a judge at these things, but I get it a bit more now. When the aim is to meet up with like-minded friends and blow off some steam, it’s up to you how you do things.

But bear in mind that this is where athlete-judge relationships are formed, so a general vibe of respect towards judges goes a long way. In fact, a disagreement between an athlete and judge quickly sours the air at competitions like these, so it’s in everyone’s interests to create a home-grown, grassroots culture of respect

There’s probably something to be said for the way athletes speak to coaches, too. As a coach, you don’t have to get your class to shout “YES COACH” when you ask them a question or provide “motivational consequences” of burpees for every misdemeanor (though it’s worked for Coach Burgener). But helping athletes to understand respect in sporting situations is part of growing them as an athlete, especially those for whom this is their first competitive sport.

Event Organizers

Any organization that runs sporting competition has a responsibility to invest in judges. I don’t mean money, at least not necessarily. If you want your judges to be exemplars, then show them the respect that you want your athletes to show them. Look after them. At bigger competitions where more is at stake, set a budget for your judges just like you’d set a budget for everything else that ensures the event runs smoothly. That doesn’t mean a free t-shirt and some food when on duty. Go a step further and make sure they have enough time to eat the food. This usually means having enough judges to switch out and give breaks.

Do everything you can to make sure your judges are well rested. That means helping with accommodation, travel, or whatever else you can do to ensure they are focused on the task at hand. It means not getting them up at the crack of dawn to hold a judges briefing. It means proper live training, away from the event and the competition floor, where judges can feel comfortable enough to ask the stupid questions. If you can’t do that (or even if you can), maybe take them out for dinner. You want a united team right? Make them feel like one.

Your judges are your public face. Show the athletes that you care about their wellbeing and welfare, and I’ll be damned if athletes don’t treat them with more respect, too. If judges are treated as disposable by the event organizers, there to serve a purpose at the weekend only to be discarded straight afterwards until the same time next year, then they will also be treated as disposable by athletes.

Judges are the glue of the competition. [Photo courtesy of CrossFit Inc.]

Athletes

An athlete in any competition must understand that the judge’s decision is final. Not right or wrong, just final. There’s nothing you can say or do that will change a decision. It’s also the responsibility of the organizers to make sure that is true whether the decision was in favor of or against the athlete. Rules are rules are rules, no matter how they fall.

I have a tattoo on my back. It’s a quote from the Rudyard Kipling poem, If:

“If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same”

These two lines are inscribed across the wall of the players’ entrance to Centre Court at the All England Lawn Tennis Club, where the Wimbledon Championships are held. I suppose that’s a very British sentiment in a way: to be reserved when it comes to emotions. But I’m not talking about cultural differences here. I’m talking about being a good human. Whether judges are paid or unpaid, volunteers or not, is irrelevant to how they deserve to be treated.

I’ve found that the true champions, the folks truly at the top of the game, are humble and polite. I don’t think it’s a coincidence they are champions of their sport and of the people. Good people attract good people. And a focused, no B.S. team of good people is a recipe for success, sporting or otherwise. It’s always the “wannabes” who are ignorant and rude. Same in life.

Judges

Without you, nothing works. So it’s your responsibility to be as prepared as possible. Get an early night before competition day. If you want respect, don’t turn up stinking of stale booze from the night before. Make sure you have read and understand any materials presented to you beforehand. If you don’t have any, ask for them.

Listen and learn at the briefings. Ask the stupid questions before it’s too late. Each competition will have unique rules but the basics are simple and universal. If you’re unsure of yourself, it’s your responsibility to make that known to the organizers. Speak with your head judge. He or she will advise you. Call him or her over if you need to during the event. This is not a time or place to be shy. Take any disputes to your head judge. He or she has got your back. Be prepared to back up your decisions and focus on the facts.

You are the law. If you’ve done the prep work, then stand your ground. Stay focused on the task both on and off the competition floor. Don’t talk shit with your mates about the athletes on a break. You are impartial, and you must remain that way until the doors shut at the end of the weekend. Be professional, and you will be treated professionally.

Spectators and Ringside Coaches

This one is simple. Be respectful. You may be a coach, or a judge, or an athlete, or all of the above in another setting. But right here, right now, you are a spectator. Back up your athlete or team by all means, but show respect to the judges who helped your athlete. Because, that’s exactly what they did, no matter whether you deem their decisions “helpful” or not.

If you have a problem, take it up with the head judge or organizers, respectfully and in private. But understand these guys have a competition to run, and they need to make sure the rest of it runs smoothly. So accept what they have to say with grace and professionalism. You are an extension of the athlete you are supporting, and a guest of the competition. Behave like both. Represent yourself, your athlete, and your gym as you know you should. In almost every other sport there are consequences for spectators or coaches who cause trouble. If you do, you should expect the same.

We Can Do This

If we all understand what’s expected of us, and step up our game where necessary to deliver a consistent message to each other, and a consistent experience to the athletes, we can all enjoy the sport for what it is, and enjoy competitions for what they are – a chance for true champions of both the sport and the scene to shine.

The post Don’t Judge the Judging: Do Something About It appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

I know what you’re thinking: it’s all well and good to know the principles, but how does that knowledge impact my day-to-day choices, like what exercises to do, at what percentages?

That’s where this article comes in. Attempting to determine percentages without having an underlying reason for choosing them is like making an awful job of cooking your steak and then adding a nice sauce – largely pointless. You need to know how to grill your steak and cook your veg before you figure out what garnish you’re going to use.

So let’s get started on the cookery lesson.

Any coach worth his or her salt will be happy to explain how your programming relates to your goals. [Photo courtesy of Cara Kobernik]

Figure Out Your Reasons

It’s important to figure out your reasons for strength training in the first place. Programming is about developing and maximizing the required qualities for the task at hand, in a timely manner for that task. That task doesn’t have to be a competition. As an everyday athlete, being strong for life, sport, lifting, and everything in between is just as purposeful and poignant as any other goal. If that is your goal, then that is the task your programming is centered on.

Your first port of call is to perform a needs analysis for your task. Quite literally, analyze what you need in order to do well at your chosen endeavor. Let’s say you’re using CrossFit or a similar modality to train for general strength, health, and fitness. You’ve realized that when your squat, press, and deadlift increase, your weightlifting improves. And when your weightlifting improves, your workout times improve. And when your workout times improve, your fitness improves.

The specifics don’t really matter here. This is an example of a needs analysis – figuring out what improves what until you get to the exercises at the core of your program. You know that a bigger squat, press, and deadlift will cascade up the chain to make you stronger and fitter. And because you’re plugging it back into everyday sport and strength, we’re going to assume you want not just to shift heavy iron, but to lift heavier, get faster, and everything in between, with an emphasis on carryover.

Enter the force-velocity curve.

The faster your muscles contract, the lower the force your muscles can produce. [Chart courtesy of Breaking Muscle]

The Force-Velocity Curve

This curve shows how the amount of concentric force your muscles can produce depends on the velocity of the muscle contraction. Look at the difference between point A and point E. Point A (maximal strength) is where you’ll bust out a max squat, press, or deadlift. It’s heavy, so to get it moving you need to apply large amounts of force. But the velocity is not going to be high. That thing is going to be a grind. At point A, you can produce a ton of force, but not fast.

Now look at point E (speed). For example, a broad jump, a clapping push up, or a medicine ball slam. This kind of movement is lightweight and fast, but you can’t produce much force here. This isn’t hearsay. The faster your muscles contract, the lower the force your muscles can produce. This is why you can’t lift a heavy weight as fast as you can lift a light weight. Try doing a clapping push up while wearing a weighted vest, and you’ll see what I mean.

In between, you have points B (strength-speed), C (power), and D (speed-strength). These are important. We determined your task is all-round strength and fitness for life, sport, and whatever other activities you fancy doing at any given moment. I don’t know of any sport where you’re not required to be powerful and generate force fast. This means working all the way up and down the force-velocity curve.

Even if you’re only interested in lifting heavy, it’s still important to train aspects of strength other than maximal strength, but that’s a story for another day. The main question we are addressing today is how to program for these all-round strength and speed gains. Let’s look at what happens when we train these qualities with separate focus over a period of time.

What Happens When the Curve Shifts

Ever noticed how your legs feel heavy and sluggish when you do a squat program that focuses on lifting heavier and heavier, with no speed work in it? That is because as you train for strength like this, your strength will increase, while your speed will decrease, as you’re not doing any work for it. The shift in your force-velocity curve looks like this:

When your focus is heavy lifting, your strength will increase, while speed will decrease. [Chart courtesy of Breaking Muscle]

Or maybe you’ve discovered you don’t feel stronger after just doing a whole bunch of conditioning workouts and not much else. That’s because as you train on the lighter weight, higher velocity end of the spectrum, your strength will decrease. The shift in your force-velocity curve looks like this:

When you train on the lighter weight, higher velocity end, your strength will decrease. [Chart courtesy of Breaking Muscle]

This is how many people program. It’s block-based programming (typically referred to as periodized programming) with a focus on one section of the force-velocity curve per training block, or training season, over the course of 8-12 weeks. Typically, you’d start with strength, and then progress down the curve to the speed work. The idea is to build strength, then maintain it while you get quicker. If you’re wondering why it’s this way around, have you ever noticed your strength gains take a while to obtain but also a while to go away? Whereas your speed gains are easy come, easy go? That’s why.

This style of programming is useful when peaking for a competition or event, but less useful if you want to be ready to roll all year round. If you’re relatively new to training, it’s even better for you to build a broad base of physical ability now. You can save this more segmented training for later in your training life when you need to specialize more.

If you’re just training to be all round fast and strong, it’s absolutely fine to train all these qualities simultaneously. Don’t let anyone tell you that you have to follow a “periodized plan” and separate out strength and speed training. That’s not how real life works. That’s not how sport works. Oh, and you can let them know that “peridoized programming” just means having a strategy for your programming. I’m pretty sure that’s what we’re putting together here.

In fact, for you as an everyday athlete, it’s advantageous to train a bunch of points on the force-velocity curve at the same time. At any given point, you won’t be strong at the expense of your speed, or faster at the expense of your strength. This means looking to program strength and speed work for various different movements or body parts in a short cycle, like a day or a week, rather than programming in blocks of months at a time. By programming strength and speed work simultaneously, or as close to it as possible, you’ll push your whole curve to the right, like this:

Training a bunch of points on the force-velocity curve at the same time pushes the whole curve out. [Chart courtesy of Breaking Muscle]

Ideas for Programming

Here are two ways you could program for this concurrent strength-speed development:

1. Program multiple types of strength and speed work in a single day. 

For an example of this, see my article on The One-Session, One-Exercise, One-Set Strength Plan:

• Warm up
• Perform 2 reps at 80-90% of 1RM.
• Quickly strip the bar to 60%.
• Perform 3 explosive reps at 60%.
• Perform slow (3-1-3) tempo reps to failure at 60%.
• Quickly strip the bar to 30%.
• Perform 3 explosive reps at 30%.
• Perform slow (3-1-3) tempo reps to failure at 30%.
• Perform a static hold at your sticking point at 30%.

Here we are working strength-speed, power, and speed-strength (along with some eccentric and isometric work – we’ll cover these in an upcoming article). You could simply repeat this protocol on different days of the week for different movements. On another day, you could add in some maximal strength work (90%+) mixed with plyometric work, such as:

• Heavy squats and squat jumps
• Heavy deadlifts and broad jumps

2. Program for different points on the curve on different days of the week.

For example, a two-week rotation of:

Week A

• Upper body strength based work (80-100%)
• Lower body power based work (50-80%)
• Upper body speed based work (30-60%)

Week B

• Lower body strength based work (80-100%)
• Upper body power based work (50-80%)
• Lower body speed based work (30-60%)

Build Your Programming

Figuring out how to program sets and reps is not the point of this article. I’ve added the templates above so you have a practical grounding for our points of discussion. What I want you to see here is how when you take your purpose (in this case, general strength, power, and speed), and layer the most fundamental principles of strength training on top of it (in this case, the force-velocity curve and how to train across the spectrum), your programming options become clear.

More on Grounded Programming:

Programming for Snowflakes

Remember what I said about programming? Programming is about developing and maximizing the required qualities for the task at hand, in a timely manner for that task. If your task is being in a good-to-go state at any given time, your training needs to address the whole strength-power-speed gamut. If you’ve been concentrating on one end of the curve for a while (typically, this will be too much heavy lifting – I’m yet to meet anyone who overdoses on speed work), then spend additional time bringing up the other end so you get that entire shift to the right we observed above.

There’s no need to be paralyzed by training options. Just make sure you are hitting all aspects of the force-velocity curve on a regular basis. If you are weak in one area, add in more exercises or more days for that area. You’ll find yourself fitter, faster, more powerful, and less beat up. And you’ll see surprising effects on your high-end strength, too.

Learn From the Ground Up

It’s easy to get waylaid by the choice of programming options. I can easily write articles giving you strength programs to follow or use. My aim is to help you understand the tenets of strength programming so you can program for yourself and understand programming you are given or see on the Internet.

If you want to be strong and fast for life, ready for anything at any time, don’t be tempted to follow plans that are better suited to competitive athletes. If you’re following programming from a coach or gym and you’re not sure how it fits with these ideas, then show your coach this article and ask. Any coach worth his or her salt will be happy to explain how your programming relates to your goals.

Too many people are dazzled by the supposed mystique of strength programming. And sure, it’s not an exact science. But it’s more than learnable if you approach it from the ground up. Remember – grill the meat first, whether it’s your steak or your purpose. Then add some veg – the fundamentals of programming. The rest is just sizzle.

Get in touch if this article was useful, and I’ll look at making this into a series of pieces to demystify strength programming for the everyday athlete based on the force-velocity curve.

The post Demystifying Programming for the Everyday Athlete appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

But whereas Castro seemingly has no interest in making your life any more enjoyable with his rules, your box owner and your coaches do. Here are six unwritten rules on how to help your coaches, your fellow athletes, and yourself ensure this CrossFit Open is an enjoyable one for everyone involved. (Apart from Castro. He can go suck lemons.)

How’s your ass feeling after those overhead lunges?

1. Don’t Drop the Bar

My girlfriend’s phone has a fat rubber casing on it. The casing is designed to make the phone bounce, and she drops her phone on many occasions, so it has worked well. But does that mean she drops her phone on the floor on purpose? I mean, it’s meant to bounce, right?

No, because that would be dumb. Exactly. And I’m pretty sure she’d check whether my head bounces on the floor shortly afterwards. Dropping 10lb/5kg bumpers, or any kind of rubber-coated plates from overhead, or even worse, slamming them on the floor, is just as dumb. Yes, they are designed to bounce. But it might surprise you to know that’s not their primary purpose. They are designed to protect the floor and the longevity of the bumper itself. So unless you want to hand me your phone and allow me to drop it from overhead, don’t let me catch you dropping the bar from overhead.

Respect the weights.

2. Do Drop the Bullshit

Here’s the thing about the Open. It levels the playing field. Everyone does exactly the same thing. Everything about the way the workouts are put together is designed to be as standardized as possible. You are the same as everybody else, so act it.

Drop the diva attitude. Everyone is in exactly the same situation as you. Embrace that fact and learn how to deal with it without the long face and the uber-competitive attitude. You’re in the same boat as the top men and women in the world, along with those in far worse circumstances than you, and I bet none of them have as much of an attitude.

Respect yourself.

3. Don’t Whine and Moan About the Spaces Available

I’ll let you in on a secret. Your box owners love and hate Thursdays during the Open all at the same time. They love it because it’s like Christmas. It’s like looking on CrossFit.com for the Workout of the Day. Or, because few people actually do that anymore, I’ll put it another way – it’s like looking at the whiteboard as soon as you get to the gym. It conjures up feelings of why they started CrossFit in the first place.

Box owners hate it because they are scared, worried, and concerned about what the workout will mean for the week ahead. Will they have the equipment and the space to make it happen? All they want is two things:

1. To look after you guys and get you through your workouts.
2. To not spend every single second of Friday-Monday at the box, and get some food and sleep.

In that order. So stop complaining about spaces and times, because believe me, your coaches are doing their very best to make it happen with the resources at hand. Truly, no one gives a shit if it’s not your perfect training time, or you have to spend ages at the box, or you can’t get your other training in, or whatever.

Respect your box owners.

Seven minutes of burpees, anyone?

4. Do Help Your Box to Make Spaces Available

I understand you want to get the best score possible in this workout. I would never suggest you put everyone else’s needs first and yourself at the bottom of the priority pile. You must give yourself a fighting chance at the workout. But there are ways you can help others at the same time.

If you can help set up and get things ready, awesome. Most athletes turn up and just expect that to be done. At the Regionals, this is the case. But in your own box, be the community you always speak about. Ask your box owners and coaches if they need help setting up. Even better, just turn up and help. Arrive before the first session after the workout announcement is made, and offer to lend a hand.

If you know that a session is going to be busy, and you can do your attempt during a quieter session, then do so. When you’re not competing, rock up, support, and judge. You might even pick up a tip or two.

Respect your fellow athletes.

5. Don’t Be Opinionated

Remember, the standards are there to make everything safe and, well…standard. Standards make the workouts the same, or as close to the same as possible, for everyone. There will be some workouts where it’s an advantage to be tall/short/big-chested/small-chested/young/old. Making everything completely standard and “fair” is an impossible task. Whether or not the workout is unfair to you is entirely irrelevant.

You see, there’s one surefire way to beat the standard: be stronger, faster, and fitter. That’s an advantage in every single workout, bar none. This mindset will make you feel like you can take on the world, rather than focus on the difficulty of the task at hand.

Respect the workouts.

Being unable to perform an Rx movement will light a fire in your training for next year.

6. Do Be Educated

Before you attempt your workout, read the rules. Watch the videos. Understand the scaling options available, if this appropriate to you. The smoother the process runs at the box, the less time everyone is kept waiting while you ask questions, the less time you have to keep yourself warm, and the less stressful it is for everyone, especially you. You can walk into that box like a man or woman on a mission, knowing the movements, standards, options, and the dos and don’ts, with a strategic warm up to suit.

There’s always one person who asks questions they could and should have read for themselves. Don’t be that person. Have you heard of Let Me Google That For You? It’s for people who ask questions they could easily have found the answers for themselves. Click the link and try it. Next time your friend asks you an obvious question, go to LMGTFY, type in the question, and send them the link. It will give them the answer, then tell them next time they should damn well find it themselves. A subtle hint, if you like.

Questions are absolutely fine. Questions where the answers are right there for you are not fine, especially when they are laid out for you on the Games website and you don’t even have to use Google.

And contrary to popular statement, there are stupid questions, like the one where you’re questioning the standards to find ways you can get around them. Stop trying to make your workout easier, and start thinking of ways you can do the work better.

Respect the standards.

Embrace the Challenge

Rules are rules. They are there for your benefit, not for your disadvantage, whatever it might feel like at the time. Sometimes rules are meant to be broken, and I’ll be the first to admit that. But this is not one of those times. Embrace the rules, embrace the suck, embrace each other (go easy on this one), and embrace the fun of kicking ass – legitimately.

More Advice to Crush The CrossFit Open:

• How to Succeed in Your First CrossFit Open
• The CrossFit Games Open: Let Go of the Leaderboard
• Why You Lost in the CrossFit Open and How to Win Next Year
• New on Breaking Muscle Right Now

Photos courtesy of Jorge Huerta Photography.

The post The Unwritten Rules of the CrossFit Open appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

In fact, you are already the boss of your own business. And your body is your business. The enjoyable and relatable topic of business can help you learn a lot about how to “run” your body. Here are five business strategies you can employ to put yourself in charge of a sustainable and successful venture, without going bust in the process.

A boss puts in the work to ensure that his business is running on all cylinders.

1. Movement Is Like Money

Movement is like money. Sure, you can take out a loan against the business for a big purchase (for example, take your body beyond its capabilities during competition), but you’re going to have to pay off that bill at some point. In other words, at some point you’ll need to deal with the dysfunction.

I first heard this analogy from Dr. Mark Cheng in a Prehab-Rehab 101 video. I’m going to push it a little further here, and I hope it does Dr. Cheng justice. If you continue to borrow movement without paying it back, you’re getting yourself more and more into movement debt. Ignore that debt completely, and you’re going to have some nasty characters knocking on your door. In this case, those unwelcome visitors are called injury and pain.

To make sure you don’t get yourself in this position, your business need to be wealthy in movement and movement capacity. Then you can write the big checks. Your bank account needs to be able to easily swallow up the cost of the purchases you are making, including big purchases (competition), standing orders (regular sessions), and ad hoc spontaneous purchases (fun things and new sports you choose to do). This means that day to day, your training must build up more movement riches than you require for purchases. Otherwise you’re borrowing all the time, and that’s no way to run a business.

2. Invest in Your Team

In business, your people are your most prized assets. In the case of your body, your team is your body, and your team members are your body parts. Your role here as boss is straightforward. Look after them and get them working in sync with each other. Ideally, you’ll look after your team on a regular basis, rather than ignoring the issues until things get a little bit hairy. No, not literally. Actually, why not literally? That analogy works too.

“Make decisions for your body like you would for your business and you’ll be well on the way to owning a business that works well for you, rather than one that hates you, works against you when you’re not paying attention, and doesn’t work well as a unit.”

You’ve built up some reserves in your movement bank account, now it’s time to reinvest it in your team. Treat them well, make sure their workload is manageable, give them time to rest, and the business will run smoothly. If you don’t, and especially if you are working your staff hard, you’d better look after them. Pay for their health care (invest in physio, chiro, and other medical needs), provide them with relaxing breaks (have massages and treatments), and take them out for some nice meals (eat well-sourced, good food). And guess what? These things will more than likely get your hard working team members functioning better as a team too – that means your whole body as a unit.

3. Allow for Days Off and Holidays

A heavy workload here and there is okay, but in general, daily workload should leave you wanting to come into work the next day. In our analogy, you should want to train again, rather than dread the thought because the work is too much.

Every few days you need a “weekend,” or a couple days off. Every so often, you need a short break. This might look like a deload half week or week. And once or twice a year, it’s probably a good idea to take a holiday somewhere hot so you recover (umm, this translates to taking a holiday somewhere hot so you can recover).

4. Spend Time Investigating Trouble Areas

Using the same analogy, if one member of staff isn’t a team player for a particular project (isn’t performing his proper role in a particular movement), you need to work out why. Otherwise, another team member is going to have to take up the slack, and sooner or later this overloaded team player is going to get annoyed, become a problem for you, and cause you pain. Then you’re going to look at the guy who is doing all the work and causing you pain and think he is the problem. You’ll go about trying to fix things with this person. Being the nice boss that you are, you’ll probably try to ease his workload – perform SMR to ease the tightness from the additional work.

A boss learns ways to prevent money leakages, like using the resisted quadruped rock to activate the core before squatting.

But it’s not this team member who is the problem. He is actually doing you a favor and picking up the slack from the real troublemaker. So easing the workload of the busy guy may seem like a good thing, but you’re probably storming in and making things worse with good intentions, like most bosses do. Telling him to go home early will only make things worse for the business as a whole.

Do some investigation. Trace back from the team player to find out who the real troublemaker is. Then you can take some pressure of your poor overworked guys, but also fix the problem at the root. My friend, mentor, and fellow Breaking Muscle writer Dr. Perry Nickelston often quotes Ida Rolf – “Where you think it is, it ain’t.”

5. Reintegrate the Troublemakers

When you’ve worked out who the troublemaker is, it’s no good just shouting at him in an effort to get him to improve by performing endless mobility protocols. You need a more integrative strategy. And again, we can turn to Perry for this, as Perry is boss – see what I did there? He has a fantastic system to reintegrate the troublemaker called the RAIL system. Now again, hopefully I’ll do Perry justice, but this is how I see it:

• R – Release – Take the busy guy aside and release some work from him.
• A – Activate – Fire up the troublemaker who is not doing enough.
• I – Integrate – Integrate back into the workforce with simple tasks.
• L – Locomotion – Perform business as usual with your new and improved staffing situation.

Did it work? Excellent, but you might need to revisit the process again sometime soon. If it didn’t work, you might have been looking in the wrong place. Take a step back and figure out who the real troublemakers are. There may be more than one.

Your Body Is Your Business

Your body is your business.

Make decisions for your body like you would for your business and you’ll be well on the way to owning a business that works well for you, rather than one that hates you, works against you when you’re not paying attention, and doesn’t work well as a unit.

And your body is your business.

You’re in charge, and you have more of a vested interest to make this work than anyone else. Don’t let your team run circles around you. Be the boss.

You’ll Also Enjoy:

• The RAIL System: Shoulder Mobility for the Bench Press
• Be Better at Life: How to Find More Time to Train
• Banish Pain Permanently: Where You Think It Is, It Ain’t
• New on Breaking Muscle Today

Photo 1 and teaser courtesy of CrossFit Impulse.

Photo 2 courtesy of Perry Nickleston.

The post Your Body Is Your Business: Be the Boss appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

If you’re anything like me, holiday season training is a mental struggle for this reason. There’s little chance of sticking to a meaningful, 3-4 times a week training plan. You know you’re going to be dragged around to see the family, who will make the same joke about how their diet and training regime starts after the holidays, and half-heartedly ask you for tips they have no intention of following.

So how do you fit a structured strength training program into the forthcoming weeks? What if you could get all the strength, speed, and power work you need with one single set of one exercise, one day a week? You can. But this is no fitness-magazine-get-strong-in-10-minutes-a-week deal. This is a brutal workout, if you give it your all. Which I already know you will.

Yeah, I thought that would appeal.

When in Doubt, Front Squat

First, choose your exercise. Don’t think about it too much. Don’t get sucked into the one-movement-that-I-would-choose-to-do-for-the-rest-of-my-life-if-I-had-to-pick-one, or whatever that BS quiz is. Just find your base movement.

Whenever I am short of time, inspiration, or both, I’ll always revert back to the front squat. It’s my base movement. One that hits most of the markers. Is it a perfect, full body movement? No. It isn’t. But it is my base movement. The one movement I’ll always do when in a pinch. Here’s why:

• Front squats don’t suck. Actually, I quite enjoy them.
• Front squats are relatively self-correcting. If my form is crap, I lose the bar, or at least lose control of it. And so I know to tighten up.
• The front squat movement pattern carries over to a bunch of other stuff.
• Front squats have just enough mobility requirement to make sure I have some decent range and don’t turn into a 2 x 4 over the holiday season.
• My quads grow when I just look at a front squat. So I’m going to get me some holiday gainz.

It doesn’t have to be a front squat. Just choose a movement you’re not going to dread, that you’re going to see some benefit from, and that gives you immediate feedback if you are off form. That is a pretty awesome combo.

Let’s Make A Deal

The problem is, your personality wants you to “do it all.” To do all the exercises, all the weights, all the sessions. Work off all the food. Do all you can do. I get it.

So I’ll make you a deal. I’ll let you do more reps on your one-day-a-week, one-movement, one-set plan IF you are feeling good. It’s an auto-regulatory protocol. This means on days when you are killing it, you’ll be able to do a little more. On days when the weights are killing you, you’ll be able to back off a bit. Either way, you’ll have done what you were meant to do, so you can walk out of the gym with your head held high.

Here’s how it breaks down:

1. Warm up.
2. Perform 2 reps at 80-90% of 1RM.
3. Quickly strip the bar to 60% (ideally, have a training buddy or two do it).
4. Perform 3 explosive reps at 60%.
5. Perform slow (3-1-3) tempo reps to failure at 60%.
6. Quickly strip the bar to 30% (ideally have a training buddy or two do it).
7. Perform 3 explosive reps at 30%.
8. Perform slow (3-1-3) tempo reps to failure at 30%.
9. Perform a static hold at your sticking point at 30%.

If this doesn’t appeal to your all-or-nothing nature, I don’t know what will. It’s hard, hard work. And it’s great for strength, size, and power, as well as strength- and power- endurance. Not bad for one session, one set, and one exercise, huh? (If you want to know more, look up French Contrast Training, or Insider Contrast Training.)

Your Part of the Deal

1. Show up
2. Do the work
3. Go home

On bad days, nothing in the protocol is unmanageable. You should be able to hit 2 reps at 80% on any given day. Same for 3 explosive reps at 60% (and the intention of making them explosive is almost as important as actually being explosive, so don’t worry if you feel sluggish). And so it continues for the rest of the protocol.

On good days, resist the temptation to do more. I say that for two reasons. First, if you feel like doing more after the workout I just prescribed, you’re doing it wrong. And second, the workout itself gives you an opportunity to do more reps to failure and longer static holds. And hell, approaching each and every rep with all you have.

This Is Your All

So this year, giving your all is about simply getting shit done. One day, one session, one exercise, one set. That’s all. That’s going to create a positive loop that feeds nicely into your psyche. Turn up and do the work, that’s all you need to do. Don’t worry about the numbers. You got it done? Then you bossed the session. Don’t do anything else. No supplementary work. No additional session that week. Nothing.

I’m serious. You can set yourself the most awesome, four-times-a-week, perfectly periodized program, but it ain’t going to do much for your strength on that scrunched-up piece of paper in your training bag, next to the amino drink and creatine tubs. The second you deviate from your program, your all-or-nothing personality will tell you it’s not worth continuing. And it will all go to pot.

Remember, we picked this path for a reason: to give you something you can throw yourself at hard, but that fits in with life and holidays too. “All” is subjective. Stop thinking about it in terms of all the training you can do, and start thinking in terms of all you need to do. Minimal effective dose.

Oh, and you need to give everything you do your all, all the time. Do that and you will have it all, promise. Now go get it done.

You’ll Also Enjoy:

• When in Doubt, Do Front Squats: 25 Tips for Better Front Squats
• A Healthy Approach to Holiday Eating
• How to Make Social Events a Strength This Holiday Season
• New on Breaking Muscle Today

Photos courtesy of Jorge Huerta Photography.

The post The One-Session, One-Exercise, One-Set Strength Plan appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

It’s your lucky day. This article contains an eight-step guide on how to squat better – I mean, how to squat more. Not only that, but it’s a step-by-step guide. Do these things, in this order, and you’ll see immediate improvements in how much weight you can lift. Let’s get started.

1. Get Tight Before You Accept the Load

By “before you accept the load,” I don’t mean before you acknowledge how heavy the load is. I mean before you bear any of the weight on your back. By the time you have a loaded bar on your skeleton, it’s too late. Squeeze your glutes and lats, and tighten up your core. Do this while you are standing there right next to the bar, before you get under it. This is where your squat begins, not once you have taken the bar out of the rack.

2. Grip the Bar Hard

While we’re on the subject of getting tight, grip the hell out of the bar. Yes, grip matters even for a lower-body movement. Gripping the bar with can-crushing intensity has a number of instant benefits:

• Makes the bar more secure
• Irradiates tension to nearby muscles
• Tells your brain you are in control

This last point is particularly important. If your brain believes you are in control, it will allow you to access the strength to perform your heavy squat. If the brain receives any sign you are not capable or in danger, it will try to shut you down. This is not particularly helpful when you are trying to squat.

3. Stop Shrugging

Leave the shrugging to indifferent teenagers. Shrugging has no place in a squat. I understand you need a secure place to put the bar. Rather than performing a shrug, create a shelf for the bar on your back by getting tight, pinning your shoulders back and down, and firing up your lats. This will create a nice shelf for the bar to sit on, and your lats will assist in keeping the bar stable.

4. Stop Taking So Many Steps Back

So you’ve created a ton of tension, you have the bar on your back. You’re almost ready to squat. You take a few steps back, and….

Woah, hold it right there. What’s with all the walking? Consider why we are taking any steps back in the first place. It’s simply to clear the rack. And that’s all you need to do. Anything more is losing all that tension you’ve worked so hard to create.

Ideally, we would all use a monolift – watch a video of the biggest squats in the world and you’ll probably see this contraption in action. It’s basically a squat rack that moves out the way instead of you stepping back. This is important at the highest level, where the weights are so heavy that even a small loss of tension would be significantly less effective and possibly even dangerous.

Take your lead from the big guys and minimise your steps back. One step back with one foot, one step back with the other foot, and an adjustment step if required. Done.

5. Slow Down

I understand you’re eager to get this squat over with. It’s heavy, and you’re creating lots of tension to make it happen. That’s not a comfortable place to be. But take a little time in getting down into the hole. Drop it like it’s hot, and you’re in danger of losing all that tension – and that’s going to make it tough to get out of the hole. Think of it this way: the harder you make it to get down into the hole, the easier it will be to get out of it.

6. Give Yourself Some Room

I don’t mean to be rude. But your legs need to be placed wide enough for your ass to fit in between them. I’m not saying you have a big ass. It’s just the way we are built as humans. Your pelvis is slung in between your legs. You can think of your legs like two trees, and your pelvis like a hammock slung in between them. And that’s what the bottom of your squat should feel like. Put your feet too narrow, and you’re in danger of your squat looking like a hinge. Which gives us no chance of driving up through the bar.

7. Drive Up Through the Bar

This is a precursor to our final point, and an important piece of ensuring we have the most chance of success in nailing a heavy squat. Our objective from out of the hole is to send that bar upward. Make sure this is your priority, both mentally and physically. Don’t just think about standing up with the bar. Drive your shoulders up through the bar, and make sure your elbows are aligned under the bar too, not pointing backward. You’ve worked hard to get yourself into the hole while retaining tension. Now get the hell up and out of it!

8. Drive the Bar Through the Roof

Wow, we’re on the eighth step of performing a squat. That’s a whole lot of steps for a movement that many perform without a thought in the world. But you’re not many people. You want more. Now that you’re here at step eight, make use of all the hard work it’s taken you to get to this point.

It’s human nature to ease off at the top of the lift. You’ve worked hard to get yourself tight out of the rack, slow down into the hole, and hard and fast out of it. So when it gets to relatively easy part at the top of your squat, you tend to slow down and back off. We’ll save the science for another article, but know that deliberately accelerating the bar throughout the whole of the concentric phase trains more motor units to fire faster, which means more force. And force is good. So drive that bar through the roof.

Be Consistent

There’s nothing in this list that you can’t action immediately for instant improvement. Consistent application of each of these points will make them integral parts of your squat process, which means gains that keep on giving.

So go squat, and start putting this step-by-step process into action. Post your PBs below.

More Like This:

• Squat Therapy: 4 Drills for a Better Squat
• My Squat is Stuck: 5 Ways to Make it Move
• When in Doubt, Do Front Squats
• New on Breaking Muscle UK Today

Photos courtesy of The Box Photography/Strength Education.

The post 8 Steps to Instantly Improve Your Squat appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

It’s your lucky day. This article contains an eight-step guide on how to squat better – I mean, how to squat more. Not only that, but it’s a step-by-step guide. Do these things, in this order, and you’ll see immediate improvements in how much weight you can lift. Let’s get started.

1. Get Tight Before You Accept the Load

By “before you accept the load,” I don’t mean before you acknowledge how heavy the load is. I mean before you bear any of the weight on your back. By the time you have a loaded bar on your skeleton, it’s too late. Squeeze your glutes and lats, and tighten up your core. Do this while you are standing there right next to the bar, before you get under it. This is where your squat begins, not once you have taken the bar out of the rack.

2. Grip the Bar Hard

While we’re on the subject of getting tight, grip the hell out of the bar. Yes, grip matters even for a lower-body movement. Gripping the bar with can-crushing intensity has a number of instant benefits:

• Makes the bar more secure
• Irradiates tension to nearby muscles
• Tells your brain you are in control

This last point is particularly important. If your brain believes you are in control, it will allow you to access the strength to perform your heavy squat. If the brain receives any sign you are not capable or in danger, it will try to shut you down. This is not particularly helpful when you are trying to squat.

3. Stop Shrugging

Leave the shrugging to indifferent teenagers. Shrugging has no place in a squat. I understand you need a secure place to put the bar. Rather than performing a shrug, create a shelf for the bar on your back by getting tight, pinning your shoulders back and down, and firing up your lats. This will create a nice shelf for the bar to sit on, and your lats will assist in keeping the bar stable.

4. Stop Taking So Many Steps Back

So you’ve created a ton of tension, you have the bar on your back. You’re almost ready to squat. You take a few steps back, and….

Woah, hold it right there. What’s with all the walking? Consider why we are taking any steps back in the first place. It’s simply to clear the rack. And that’s all you need to do. Anything more is losing all that tension you’ve worked so hard to create.

Ideally, we would all use a monolift – watch a video of the biggest squats in the world and you’ll probably see this contraption in action. It’s basically a squat rack that moves out the way instead of you stepping back. This is important at the highest level, where the weights are so heavy that even a small loss of tension would be significantly less effective and possibly even dangerous.

Take your lead from the big guys and minimize your steps back. One step back with one foot, one step back with the other foot, and an adjustment step if required. Done.

5. Slow Down

I understand you’re eager to get this squat over with. It’s heavy, and you’re creating lots of tension to make it happen. That’s not a comfortable place to be. But take a little time in getting down into the hole. Drop it like it’s hot, and you’re in danger of losing all that tension – and that’s going to make it tough to get out of the hole. Think of it this way: the harder you make it to get down into the hole, the easier it will be to get out of it.

6. Give Yourself Some Room

I don’t mean to be rude. But your legs need to be placed wide enough for your ass to fit in between them. I’m not saying you have a big ass. It’s just the way we are built as humans. Your pelvis is slung in between your legs. You can think of your legs like two trees, and your pelvis like a hammock slung in between them. And that’s what the bottom of your squat should feel like. Put your feet too narrow, and you’re in danger of your squat looking like a hinge. Which gives us no chance of driving up through the bar.

7. Drive Up Through the Bar

This is a precursor to our final point, and an important piece of ensuring we have the most chance of success in nailing a heavy squat. Our objective from out of the hole is to send that bar upward. Make sure this is your priority, both mentally and physically. Don’t just think about standing up with the bar. Drive your shoulders up through the bar, and make sure your elbows are aligned under the bar too, not pointing backward. You’ve worked hard to get yourself into the hole while retaining tension. Now get the hell up and out of it!

8. Drive the Bar Through the Roof

Wow, we’re on the eighth step of performing a squat. That’s a whole lot of steps for a movement that many perform without a thought in the world. But you’re not many people. You want more. Now that you’re here at step eight, make use of all the hard work it’s taken you to get to this point.

It’s human nature to ease off at the top of the lift. You’ve worked hard to get yourself tight out of the rack, slow down into the hole, and hard and fast out of it. So when it gets to relatively easy part at the top of your squat, you tend to slow down and back off. We’ll save the science for another article, but know that deliberately accelerating the bar throughout the whole of the concentric phase trains more motor units to fire faster, which means more force. And force is good. So drive that bar through the roof.

Be Consistent

There’s nothing in this list that you can’t action immediately for instant improvement. Consistent application of each of these points will make them integral parts of your squat process, which means gains that keep on giving.

So go squat, and start putting this step-by-step process into action. Post your PRs below.

More Like This:

• Squat Therapy: 4 Drills for a Better Squat
• In Over Your Head: Pro Advice for a Better Overhead Squat
• 10 Killer Tips to Boost Your Squat
• New on Breaking Muscle Today

Photos courtesy of The Box Photography/Strength Education.

The post 8 Steps to Immediately Improve Your Squat appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Sounds like fun. But alongside those unwritten bro rules that everyone knows but no one speaks about is the unwritten fact that no one’s bench has actually increased for as long as any of you muscle heads can remember.

Here are six tips to up your max bench and put the wind up your bench buddies.

Related: The Best Chest Workouts for Muscle Mass, Strength, and More

1. Be Spotted

“Do you need a spot for that?”

“Nah man, I’m cool.”

Asking if you need a spot is almost a loaded question right? Spotting is a sign of weakness. A sign you might not be able to handle this weight. Actually, that couldn’t be further from the truth. Not having a spotter is a sign you might not be able to handle this weight, at least to your brain.

There is nothing wrong with using a spotter – in fact, it is the ideal way to train the bench.

Considering it’s your brain that allows you to move well and access your strength, you better keep it happy. Use spotters even at lower weights. When your brain is not as worried about basic safety, it can focus on good movement and shifting weight in a powerful manner.

2. Use Purposeful Partial Range of Motion

We’ve all heard of bro-reps before. Those less-than-full-range-of-motion lifts that enable us to shift more weight than we could by doing full and legit reps. But there’s a legit reason to do less-than-full-range, too – as long as you are doing it with purpose.

I’m sure you know what it feels like when you take a close-to-max bench press attempt out of the rack. It feels as heavy as hell, because, well, it is heavy and you’re not used to it. So get used to it. Add on a little more than you can lift. Then, with the help of a spotter, take the bar out of the rack and just hold it there. All you, bro.

“There’s a legit reason to do less-than-full-range, too – as long as you are doing it with purpose.”

This process gets your body used to handling heavier weights in more ways than one:

• You get used to the feel of this weight – so it’s not so much of a shock next time.
• This kind of isometric hold primes your tendons and ligaments for heavier loads.
• You automatically get tighter in order to handle the weights. It’s important for your body to understand how to get tighter, and for you to understand what this feels like so you can replicate it.

3. Work Your Triceps

If you’ve been bro-benching for years with your elbows flared out, then your bench press numbers will probably go down by getting into a tight-and-tucked position. But don’t panic. Your body is not used to benching this way, even though it’s infinitely better in the long term, and some of the major muscle players involved will need to play catch up. Your triceps are now big players in your lift, so suggest to your mates that you all do some triceps isolation work at the end of the session. It won’t be long until your numbers are climbing back up again.

What’s more, when your friends are on the substitution bench with shoulder injuries due to their flared positions, you’ll still be on the gym bench making gains with your balanced style and new-found balanced strength to go with it.

The Tate Press is one of many excellent triceps isolation exercises that can help bring up your bench.

4. Drive Through the Floor

As you can see, the bench press is not just a chest exercise. And it’s not just an upper-body exercise either. Don’t believe me? Stick a fork into your friend’s leg as he is bench pressing and see if it affects his lift. (Please don’t really do this. But you get the idea).

What you do with your lower body makes a difference to this lift. So plant your feet to the ground. They shouldn’t move at all during the lift. And drive through them. Actively push through the floor as you drive that barbell up. I’m betting you know at least one person who benches with his feet up in the air. But this works the same as spotting – in order to get stronger, you first need to convince your CNS you’re safe and stable. Grounding yourself hard against the floor gives your brain the feedback it needs to let you unleash the beast.

5. Incremental Increases

Bro rules dictate that nothing less than a ten-pound plate is allowed. Which means minimum jumps of twenty pounds. Fine, I guess, if you’re working sub-maximal sets of multiple reps. But you’re not, are you? You’re working to maxes every time you bench.

If I can’t get you to consider a more sustainable approach, then just do me this one favor – get off the ego-train and use the incremental plates. And don’t pay attention if your mates make fun of you – because you’ll have the last laugh when all those incremental increases add up.

Setting up for a competition max is one thing, but your training should involve moving in small increments.

6. Negatives and Assisted Reps

These relate to another variation of bro-reps – the “it’s all you, bro” reps. Usually these reps go something like this:

1. The bar is loaded up beyond the lifter’s capabilities.
2. The bar is taken off the rack and plummets to the lifter’s chest.
3. The spotter bicep curls the bar up, while motivating the lifter with, “It’s all you, bro!”
4. Afterward, it’s determined the spotter barely touched the bar, so the rep is as good as clean.

Once again, this can be a legitimate technique when used appropriately. We are much stronger in the eccentric part of the movement than we are in the concentric. If we lower the bar under control and with intent, we can make use of this fact to get us stronger.

“Even the assisted (concentric) part can be used effectively, as long as the lifter is putting in the majority of the effort.”

The key is to be in control of the bar – you are pulling the bar down to your chest on your terms rather than letting it drop due to the weight. Even the assisted (concentric) part can be used effectively, as long as the lifter is putting in the majority of the effort, only helped as required by the spotter. This gets you used to handling heavy weights across a full range of motion.

Be the Bro With the Biggest Bench

So there you have it. Getting a bigger bench doesn’t have to mean giving up your Monday evening bro sessions or your Friday evening pump day, and it doesn’t have to mean not lifting heavy. In fact, many of these tips are about purposely lifting heavier than you are used to.

Be the bro with the biggest bench and you won’t have to bother with the bravado.

Check out these related articles:

• 12 Simple Strategies to Boost Your Bench Press
• You’re Not Actually Strong Enough to Bench
• Be a Debbie Downer – Using Negatives in the Bench Press
• What’s New On Breaking Muscle Today

Photo 1 courtesy of Shutterstock.

Photo 2 courtesy of Breaking Muscle.

The post 6 Steps to Becoming the Bro With the Biggest Bench appeared first on Breaking Muscle.